Arsema Dawit inquest: Police ‘not serious over threats’

The family of a schoolgirl viciously stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend have told her inquest the police did not take seriously the threats he had made to kill and assault her.

Arsema Dawit, 15, was stabbed 60 times by Thomas Nugusse at Waterloo, central London, in 2008. Her inquest at Southwark Crown Court heard this was six weeks after her family reported him to police.

They had tried to report him for making threats and slapping her. In that incident at McDonald’s, Nugusse hit Arsema on her face, leaving her with a black eye.

Her mother and cousin told her inquest when they tried to report that incident, Gillian Johnson, the receptionist at London’s Kennington police station, left them feeling that nothing would be done without more proof.